3/8/13

Is the City's Republican Party Imploding?

According to the New York Post, weak leadership and factionalism could scuttle any chance the city's Republican Party has of winning the mayoralty this fall.

Former Staten Island borough president and congressional representative Guy Molinari told the Post that what's happening to the party is "a damn shame", saying it's never been this bad.

Another veteran GOP operative told the Post that there's no single leader to pull the county chairs, who are fighting with their local elected representatives, together.

The GOP, it said, is now irrelevant in Manhattan and the Bronx, where there isn't a single elected Republican. Although Manhattanites give thousands of dollars to the GOP, the New York County committee has no money, it said.

In Queens, a bitterly-divided county committee has lost two veteran state senators it now can't replace, said the Post.

There's civil war brewing in Staten Island, with County Chair Bob Scamardella resigning over a dispute with Council Member James Oddo, it said.

And the Brooklyn GOP is splintered, with county Chair Craig Eaton, State Senator Marty Golden and
Assembly Member Nicole Malliotakis all backing different candidates for mayor, according to the Post.